Family searching for their missing son falsely accused of child-lifting and beaten in UP - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
26th August 2019 / 2:32 pm
Two videos of an angry mob beating three men are circulating on WhatsApp with the claim that residents of Trilokpur gram sabha in Dharmapur village have caught a gang of child-kidnappers. “ग्राम सभा त्रिलोकपुर के धर्मापुर गांव में पकड़े गए बच्चा चुराने वाला गिरोह त्रिलोकपुर व धर्मापुर गांव के लोगों ने पकड़ा व मौके पर पुलिस भी पहुंची”, reads the WhatsApp text shared with two videos and photographs of the incident. Below is the screenshot of the WhatsApp forward.
Twitter user Shivam Maurya posted another video of the same incident with a similar narrative.
जिला उन्नाव थाना पुरवा का मामला
ग्राम सभा त्रिलोकपुर के धर्मापुर गांव में पकड़े गए बच्चा चुराने वाला गिरोह त्रिलोकपुर व धर्मापुर गांव के लोगों ने पकड़ा व मौके पर पुलिस भी पहुंची pic.twitter.com/oBwoM4rwPM
— Shivam Maurya सांसद कार्यकर्ता (@ShivamM29743978) August 24, 2019
Alt News was unable to locate any credible news reports about the incident. However, the license plate of a motorcycle visible in the video hinted that the incident took place in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district.
On checking a publically available data of vehicle registration in India, we found that the vehicle is registered under the name of one Pankaj Kumar Tripathi. We then Google searched with keywords, “पंकज त्रिपाठी उन्नाव “, and found an article on a website circle.page.
On August 23, a father, along with his three sons and a relative, was searching for his missing son and was beaten up by a mob over false suspicion of child-lifting. The incident took place in UP’s Unnao district. Moreover, we found one more article on the incident published by a news website Manvadhikar Media. A 65-year-old resident of Unnao town Gaya Prasad Tripathi along with his family members had gone to Dharmapur village to search for his missing son Munesh, according to the report. They were looking for him in a forest while their vehicles were parked on the road. When they inquired with the villagers about Prasad’s missing son, they were mistaken for child-kidnappers. In a complaint given to the police, Prasad said that a missing complaint of his son was filed at Maurawan police station. Purwa police have lodged an FIR against unidentified people.
Alt News contacted Purwa police station to inquire about the claims circulating on social media. We were informed that these men were not child-kidnappers and a case has been filed against some unidentified men.
In conclusion, a video where family members looking for their missing kin were falsely accused of child-lifting and beaten up by a mob in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, is circulating on social media to give credence to the false rumour.
Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University.
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